A/N: The following story is not meant to follow canon for either the 1978 version of BSG, or the 2003 version. Truth often lies somewhere between two conflicting stories, and this is the position we are taking with BSG. The Characters in the Battlestar Galactica sections of this story are generally based on the 2003 version, however, at times, as in the case of Flight Corporal Rigel, or the male version of Starbuck, no 2003 version exists. For these characters, the reader will need to envision Sarah Rush and Dirk Benedict, the actors who played them in 1978, respectively. Some characters will be merged with others, in an attempt to explain differences between the two canons.
If you have not read the first two sections of this story, The Birth of Iconia, and The Rise of Iconia, we suggest you do now, or our modifications to BSG will be the least of your confusion. We hope you enjoy.
We, the writers, own no part of the franchises mentioned in the following story. We are simply fans and are writing this for fun.
Chapter 1
Five years ago...
"This new battlestar will lead the way for the production of peace for the Colonies," President Adar finished his speech.
He surveyed the assembly surrounding the podium. He knew that this speech would give the political pundits something to talk about the next morning. The irony of a battlestar producing peace would keep both sides debating for weeks.
He stepped away from the podium which then retracted into the floor, leaving an unobstructed view of the floor to ceiling screen behind. On the screen, they could see a viper approaching the port fighter bay. It landed gracefully, and they watched as the familiar form of Commander William Adama exited his fighter. He removed his helmet and set it in the front of his ship, then walked to the lift which took him to the bridge. Once there, he removed a plaque from an inside pocket of his dress uniform. He lifted it up and wiped a smudge off it with his sleeve, then carefully placed it in its receptacle. It was a carved piece of metal, about nine inches by two, which said Galactica. Just before he put it in its place, the screen split. One image showed him placing the plaque, and the other showed the side of the landing bay pod. The crowd could see that there was nothing in the customary name nomenclature spot, but when Adama slipped the name in place on the bridge, contacts were made which gave the computer the ships name and registry number. Once that was done, the nomenclature plate on the hull received a signal, and the name and registry number became visible in the paint. She was not officially part of a battlegroup yet, so that number had still not appeared, but it would, once the assignment was made.
Now that the name appeared, that side of the huge screen cleared, and the left side widened, until the scene on the bridge filled it. Adama stepped to where his family stood. His wife, Laura, was flanked by his son Zak and his family, Kara and Troy, as well as his daughter Sharon and her fiance, Karl. Curiously, the president didn't see Lee, Bill's elder son. No, there he was, slipping in beside his brother.
"I swear," Bill Adama said, "that as the commander of this ship, the Galactica, I am dedicated to upholding the peace for the colonies." The bridge crew erupted in applause and cheering. Geata gave a quiet order into his headset, and space outside erupted in several explosions as the new battlestar took out several highly combustible targets. It was a suitable display.
While they were celebrating, a trace was detected on the outskirts of the colonial star system. Atlantia attempted to launch probes to investigate, but something was interfering with her internal communications. Her bridge couldn't communicate with her launch bays. Suddenly, her screens all went dark. Now, she was deaf, dumb, and blind. Quickly, her commander ordered all stop while her repair crews got busy.
In Galactica's computer core, Dr. Gaius Baltar and his wife, Natalie, were working. Gaius had noticed a strange signal entering the computer, and had immediately cut the network signal to the rest of the fleet. Natalie worked feverishly to put up the firewall they had created.
On the edge of the shipyards, where the new ship had been built, was a museum of old battlestars. There, people could see the evolution of the great warships over the last several years. One of those old ships was now in the process of powering up. The umbilicals pulled loose as the ship eased away from the dock then jumped to the trace. On the bridge, Daniel Greystone looked at the Cylon baseships pouring out wave after wave of raiders.
Three more ships jumped into place beside the old battlestar, and all four launched fighters. They targeted the baseships with their main weapons and opened fire. There was very little effect on the Cylons, but they kept it up. They had no choice.
Galactica now had eyes and ears. From somewhere, an alarm sounded and Sharon Adama jumped. She had not been expecting an alert now. She ran to her post and started punching buttons. "Commander!" she shouted to her father. "We're picking up energy weapons fire on the edge of the system."
Adama hurried to her side and looked at the screen. It was unclear what was happening at the edge of the system, but there was no mistaking the wave after wave of raiders bearing down on the stationary ships surrounding them.
"Launch all fighters!" he told the woman at fighter control.
"All pilots, report to battle stations. Launch when ready," Flight Corporal Rigel announced into her headset.
Zak, Karl, and Lee ran out of the bridge, still in dress uniforms, and ran to the flight deck. They climbed into their cockpits, completed their checklists, and blasted out of the launch tubes. What they saw when they emerged from the flight deck was horrific. Wave upon wave of raiders were simply bypassing the battlestars in orbit of the planet, and heading toward the surface.
"Apollo! Why are the other battlestars just sitting there?" Karl asked Lee.
"I don't know, Starbuck," the commander's older son answered.
From the other side of Galactica, another squadron joined theirs. It was headed by Boomer, Karl's friend Charles Valerie. Boomer's wingman was Karl's sister, Kara, who went by the call sign, Serena. "What's going on, guys?" Boomer asked. "I'm not picking up any signals at all from the other battlestars. It's like they're dead."
"I don't think that's our immediate concern," Apollo told the others.
"Agreed," Zak said, taking his ship into a dive.
"You've got to admire his guts, if not his intelligence," Karl said regarding his brother-in-law. "We'd better help him, don't you think, Apollo?"
"Let's go everyone," Lee announced. He was already diving towards the planet's surface.
The rest of the two squadrons followed suit, and then there was an enormous explosion behind them. It was followed by another, then another.
Kara was stunned. "Those are the battlestars," she said quietly, watching her scanner for a moment. That moment ended, however, when a beeping from her targeting computer told her she was in range of the nearest raider.
She was about to ask permission to fire when Apollo said grimly, "Get rid of these flying abominations."
That was enough for every one of the pilots and they opened fire on the raiders.
On board Galactica…
"The raiders aren't even engaging the battlestars, Commander," Sharon told her father. "They're heading to the planet's surface." Adama watched the tactical screen show his fighters heading towards the enormous fleet of raiders beginning to strafe the surface. There were over a hundred battlestars present, so there were more than enough vipers to outnumber the cylons on the battlestars, but for some reason they weren't launching.
Without warning, Atlantia exploded. Sharon looked at her monitors and gasped. "Atlantia's engines overloaded, Sir. It appears as though she tried to jump, but her jump coordinates were an inversion of her current location."
"Explain that," Adama demanded.
Geata, Galactica's tactical officer called out, "Two more explosions. Make that three."
Adama whirled and looked at the main viewer showing the battlestars exploding one by one in their berths.
"Move us out!" he shouted to Tigh, his second in command. Tigh quickly ordered the enormous ship moved out of her berth, just as the battlestar behind them exploded. The shockwave rocked Galactica, causing her to roll over but her armor held.
"Sir," Sharon called out, "that battle on the edge of the system. It is hard to make out, but it appears to be baseships fighting battlestars!"
"Confirmed, Sir," Geata agreed.
"What battlestars?" Adama asked.
"They seem to be old, Commander," Geata was checking his readouts again. "Like museum ships."
"What the frack?" Tigh exclaimed.
"You've got me, Colonel," the tactical officer said. "I certainly don't understand it."
Above Caprica…
Four squadrons from Galactica were engaging the cylons within the atmosphere. This type of battle always worried Apollo because of the danger of civilian casualties. The cylons were strafing the cities, and the colonials were trying to stop them with everything they had.
Not only were the vipers from the battlestar fighting, but several atmospheric craft from the planet were joining in the fray. They were capable fighters, but were unable to exit the atmosphere.
"This is Apollo, CAG of Galactica's airwing," Lee told them as they rose to help the vipers, "You guys try to get them out of the cities, and we'll be ready to pick 'em off. Blue and Red squadron's follow me!" He peeled off to the edge of the city to prepare the ambush.
They didn't have long to wait. The cylons weren't expecting both vipers and atmospheric craft.
The planes came speeding low from one side of the city. The vipers were hovering just a few feet off the ground, and when the raiders burst out, they rose to close ranks behind. The planes went straight up, leaving a clear shot for the vipers. They only had a second, but that was all that was needed. They fired everything they had at the raiders, destroying most of them. Another wave was right behind the first one, however, and they were on their way out of the city now.
"Divide now!" Apollo shouted into his comm system. The colonials did, one squadron going left, one right, one up, and one down. Timing was everything on this move, and they were hoping to do a complete loop each direction to come in behind the cylons. At the same time, the planes had allowed themselves to almost stall, then turned a hundred eighty degrees and were now diving straight down, into the squadrons of raiders. They obliterated the ones that had been confused by the sudden appearance of the vipers, then aimed for the next wave. They blew through it at supersonic speeds, not firing a shot. Their mission was just to confuse, and at that they succeeded. The raiders had no idea where the next fighter was coming from, and were unprepared as the vipers lined up their sights with deadly precision.
Caprica might have survived, had the colonials not been completely overwhelmed. The simple fact was, as they were fighting two waves, six more were taking out the cities.
The vipers and aircraft turned back to the city, to see fires raging from the windows of many buildings. They raced in to battle the raiders, but the smoke took visibility to almost nill, and flying by instruments in a city was simply suicide. "Pull out," Apollo reluctantly ordered.
The vipers headed straight up. Zak Adama saw a raider to his right as he rocketed out from between two buildings, and went after it. The raider saw him coming, and dove for cover under the smoke.
"Zak, No!" his brother ordered.
"It's ok, Apollo. I saw where it went!" the younger man argued.
"Pull up, that's an order!"
But it was far too late. From behind one of the buildings, a raider flew. It saw Zak go by, and whipped in behind his viper. Zak started to pull up, but the energy weapons from the raider touched his top engine. The fuel in the engine exploded, pushing his ship over onto it's top. The explosion set off his other engines and the forward part of his ship separated. There was no way to eject, as the cockpit was upside down and too low. But Zak was well trained, and he hit his attitude thrusters at the nose. They worked just long enough to right the cockpit, then Zak ejected.
One thing to be said for the cylon raiders was that they were thorough. The one that had fired on him was watching, and at the tip of his flight, it fired its weapons, killing the young man.
Kara had been watching and holding her breath. When she saw her husband killed, she screamed. Then, she hit her turbos, and fired everything she had at the raider. She hit it and went to follow the ship Zak had been gunning for.
"Serena!" Boomer called. "Stand down!"
The ship had disappeared into the smoke, and Boomer's voice just barely penetrated the woman's pain. It got through, however, and she pulled her ship up, but did not say anything else for a long time.
On the Galactica…
William Adama stared in shock at the screen. What he was seeing defied logic. Four museum exhibit battlestars were fighting an equal number of cylon basestars. What was amazing, was that the ancient colonial ships had managed to inflict as much damage to the cylons as they had.
"Omega!" Adama called to Felix Gaeta, "Assist in disarming those basestars, then find out who's commanding those relics."
"Yes, Sir!" Gaeta answered. He appreciated that his commander used his call sign. He had started out as a very good pilot, but an injury rendered him unable to continue. He had then worked his way up to tactical officer in Adama's handpicked bridge crew.
The Galactica's computer core…
Gaius Baltar spied something that surprised him. It was a part of the code that Natalie had countered with her antivirus program. He couldn't believe his eyes, but there it was. He didn't want to believe it, so he contacted a memorized address.
"Hello, Julius," he said to the face that showed up on his screen.
"Hello, Gaius. And how are you faring?"
"Not very well, my brother. I'm wondering if you can shed some light on a few things I found in a virus."
"What would I know about a virus?" Julius Baltar asked his younger brother.
"I would assume plenty, as it has all the markers of your software labs," the younger man answered.
"You assume that I know everything that happens in my company? How naive can you be?"
"Since this virus exploits a weakness in my firewall that you are the only person outside my company to know of, then yes, I assume you know something about it. It's shutting down the defenses of the fleet, Julius." He was shouting now. "I assume you know something when you are the only one who conceivably could!"
"I am sorry you have so little trust in me, Little Brother," Julius said through a smug smile.
"How can I trust you when the cylons are using this virus to help them attack our worlds?"
"I am afraid that is something you will have to decide for yourself, then," Julius said smoothly. "Trust is something easily misplaced, I'm afraid, and it should be something earned. Have I earned it, over the years? Should you have placed trust in me? Maybe you should think of your own culpability in this…" he shrugged his shoulders slightly, then continued, "disaster shall we say? You gave me what I needed to know, Little Brother. You are as much to blame as I am. Only your part, was listening to your own stupidity." His mocking tone grew as the younger man hung his head. "Oh well. You still have your whore."
With that, his older brother signed off. Gaius stood, shoulders slumped, sobbing as he realized that Julius was right. He had no reason to trust his brother, who had stolen his ideas in the past, but now, his desire to reconcile had cost, not only him, but everyone in the twelve colonies. Natalie stepped to his side, and placed her arms around his shoulders. He started to shrug her off, but she held on tighter. Eventually, he put his head on her shoulder and just cried.
The bridge…
"Commander!" Gaeta called as the Galactica rocked, "I have a commlink to the lead battlestar."
On a screen in front of Adama, a static filled image of a man appeared. It was hard to see exactly what he looked like as the image kept wavering, but the commander had an impression of a fairly young man with sandy colored hair.
"Keep firing!" the man shouted before acknowledging Adama. "I'm kind of busy here, Commander, as you can no doubt see," he said as an explosion rocked his ship.
"I will save the 'who are you' and 'what do you think you're doing' until after we're done here then," Adama told him, "assuming we come through this alive."
"If we survive this," the other man said, "I will be glad to sit down with you and explain everything I know. Meanwhile, to facilitate our survival, I would appreciate your taking command of this force, such as it is."
Adama didn't hesitate. He turned to Gaeta and ordered, "Assessment of those battlestars and recommendations."
"They have all taken serious hits, but the engines have been protected by not turning broadside to the basestars. I recommend we regroup out of the range of the cylon weapons."
"Do it," Adama ordered and turned back to the screen.
The man was shaking his head, "I don't want to run, Commander."
"I remember an old proverb which states that only a fool fights in a burning house," Adama told him. "If you don't get your ships out of there, you will be that fool."
An explosion rocked the other ship, and the man quickly said, "Point taken."
Adama turned to Gaeta. "Omega, coordinates if you please."
The younger man addressed the four battlestars and gave them coordinates to jump to. A moment later, the five enormous ships were on the other side of Caprica.
Sharon quickly called the viper squadrons and gave them the new coordinates of their home, and a few minutes later, Rigel was directing them to land.
Adama's quarters…
Bill and Laura Adama had gone to their quarters on Galactica with a heavy heart. They weren't sure what had happened, but they were quite certain that they were about to hear bad news. They watched as Lee entered the room, followed by Kara, Karl, and Sharon. Sharon hadn't heard the news, but she had heard the tone of the conversations she had monitored as the vipers made their way back to Galactica.
"Where's Zak?" Laura asked, her voice trembling. When she asked, Bill looked around, seemed to realize that his young son wasn't present, and then closed his eyes and hung his head.
"Zak's ship was badly damaged," Lee said. His voice cracked as he explained, "He was able to eject, but a cylon shot him down as his chute was deploying."
Lee's head snapped around to his sister as she let out a wail on hearing what had happened to her brother. Karl was there, however, and put his arms around his fiance. Tears streamed unashamedly from his eyes as he held her tight.
"What happened to the flying blasphemy that shot him down?" Laura asked, ice in her voice.
"I blew it out of the sky," Kara told her mother-in-law. Her voice had absolutely no inflection in it, and Lee wasn't sure what to think about her state of mind. He knew she would not forgive him for a long time if he ordered her to take time off, but her safety and the safety of Boomer's squadron was at stake.
"Have you told Troy?" Bill wanted to know.
"Not yet," Lee admitted. "I'm not sure what to say."
Laura looked at Kara, who was continuing to just look at the still blank wall of Bill's quarters. "Would you like me to come with you when you tell him?" she asked.
Kara nodded, and then the tears came. She folded into her mother-in-law's arms, and wept.
Later…
Bill Adama was piloted to the Dionysia by Lee and Karl. He stepped off of the shuttle and up to the sandy haired man he had seen on his screen. "I don't know who you are, but my people are going over the sensor data from that battle. My son was killed in it, and I swear, if I find that you precipitated the fight, I will blow this wreck and her sisters out of the heavens."
The man bowed his head. "I am very sorry that you lost your son, Commander Adama. I swear that I did not start the fight. We knew it was coming, and did what we could to stop it." He sized up the two younger men who had accompanied Adama. He recognized them from the newscast of the christening of Galactica, and knew that they were sons of the commander. He was certain that they would be more than willing to assist in backing up the elder Adama's words.
"I am Daniel Greystone, Commander." He watched as Adama looked skeptical. "I know you probably find that hard to believe, but I assure you that I am him."
"You're right. I find that hard to believe." With that, Adama turned and walked back to the shuttle. He called over his shoulder, "Apollo, Starbuck. Let's go." To Daniel Greystone he said, "If you feel like telling me the truth, I will be more than willing to listen."
Lee and Karl, got back in the shuttle, and they were cleared for launch. Then, they were gone.
Dr. Daniel Greystone stood watching them depart, then he too went back to his control center. They needed to find out how much damage had been done to the twelve colonies.
The Galactica VIP conference room...
Several people were seated around the huge table. They were the remnants of the governments. Very few people had survived. The Council president, Adar, had been on Caprica in his home when the planet had been attacked. The cylons quickly showed that they knew where to strike. The government complex had been destroyed, as had the homes of everyone who worked there. Even the Adama home had been hit, as Laura was the secretary of education.
What was unbelievable was that, since she had been on Galactica at the time of the attack, and therefore spared, she was the highest ranking government official still alive, and thus was the president.
"Welcome to the Galactica," she began, meeting the gaze of each person at the table. "We represent the remnants of the twelve tribes of Kobol. We have checked each of the worlds, and found that every city was levelled. Most small towns cannot even be found. The people who escaped are those who were at the right place at the right time. We have approximately two hundred thirty ships, holding almost half a million people, plus twelve battlestars and four museum dedicated battlestars." She looked up from her notes. "That's it. That's all that is left of humanity."
"It is up to us," she continued, "to do whatever we can to get these people away from the cylons and to a place where we can survive."
"It seems to me," an official sitting opposite her at the table spoke up, "that we need to drive the cylons away from our homes."
"Secretary Doral," Laura said, "While I think each person who survived this holocaust would like nothing better than to drive them away and take back what is ours, our purpose now is survival. We no longer have the military power now to fight…"
"We have sixteen battlestars," he interrupted.
"And what do you think would happen to the civilian ships in our 'ragtag fleet' if those battlestars were led away from them by a campaign to rid our homes of cylons?" she overpowered his objections. Aaron Doral, the newly appointed secretary in charge of feeding the civilians, sat back in his chair and glowered at her.
"I assure you, Aaron," she told him, "that I agree that the most desirable course would be to take back our worlds. However, what is desirable in not necessarily the wisest choice open to us. Right now, we must retreat." At the uproar starting, she held up her hand. "We retreat so we can build our strength. Many of our pilots were killed in the battle we just fought." At those words, everyone at the table became silent. All knew what had happened to Zak. "My husband has an idea that I think is our best choice at this moment."
Adama stepped forward from where he had been standing near the door. "In our history, there is record of a thirteenth tribe that was not near our worlds. It is unclear if it was settled by Kobol, or if it is our place of origin. What we know is that is is called Earth, and I have figured out where it is."
Doral asked, "And can we get there? Do we have the resources to make it?"
"I believe we can make it, yes," Bill told him.
The young official nodded. "Very well, Commander." He looked around at those seated at the table. "I suggest that we follow the Commander's suggestions and that we put aside the murmurings against him."
"What murmurings?," Sire Uri, another member of the council asked.
"In the three days since the battle, several people on different ships have voiced a suspicion of some sort of complicity on the part of the Adamas. They say the timing of the attack was just too convenient." He looked at Laura and Bill. "I have tried to reassure people, but the murmuring is becoming more and more widespread."
Uri was incensed. "Adama is the highest ranking military man we have. His fighters were the first ones to protect Caprica! To suggest some sort of conspiracy in which he is involved is ridiculous!"
"I assure you, Uri, that I agree with you," Doral said, holding up his hand. "My bringing it up is just to warn everyone that there is a faction that might be a problem later."